How AI is transforming the future of digital marketing

While AI may invoke futuristic thoughts in many people, it is far from a sci-fi endeavor. In fact, AI has been here for a while, and it has already ingrained itself in our everyday lives. From mobile phone processors learning users’ habits to optimize power consumption to virtual assistants and chatbots, it is now far from a novelty. Today, it cooperates with big data, CRM, and other technologies, and it shapes the future of many fields. By extension, AI is transforming the future of digital marketing, as it opens the door to many innovative optimizations.

Defining AI

Despite its colloquial use, from Hollywood to literature and games, AI is quite a realistic technology. In essence, it’s machine learning that, ideally, enables machines to rationalize and self-improve to carry out their assigned tasks better. AI typically aims to enable devices to do the following:

  • Learning – the ability to acquire new knowledge
  • Problem-solving – the ability to use said learning to solve various problems
  • Mimicking human intelligence – the ability to mimic basic functions of human intelligence, such as perception and reasoning

Today, AI finds use in mobile phones, computers, and other devices. This reaches the point where some functions as text recognition are now standard and not treated as AI’s advantages. It also finds use in many academic and scientific fields, from linguistics and psychology to physics and mathematics. Finally, it opens up new possibilities for such fields as robotics and sees tremendous commercial use across the board. These vast possibilities see AI transforming the future of digital marketing today, as it intertwines with existing commercial technologies.

How AI is transforming the future of digital marketing
Far from a futuristic notion, AI is transforming the future of digital marketing today.

How AI is transforming the future of digital marketing

The aforementioned commercial use of AI should not be understated. AI finds use in various digital marketing fronts, as it seamlessly integrates with existing technologies and refines them. While such uses are plentiful, the most noteworthy should likely be CRM and data analysis, chatbots and customer support, and email marketing automation.

CRM and data analysis

A massive asset to digital marketing today, CRM seeks to optimize interactions with customers. To do so, it collects data on customers’ experiences and streamlines it into an accessible database. In turn, it helps with lead acquisition and customer retention, while analytical CRM offers predictive analysis models. Both are invaluable; digital marketing hinges on optimal lead acquisition and retention alike, while predictive analysis informs decisions across departments.

However, in CRM and otherwise, data acquisition is becoming too vast for humans to process effectively. The field of big data itself attests to this, no less than how its own definition of “big” adapts over time. The size of such troves of data actively hinders our ability to analyze it and ensure data integrity. Forbes predicts that we’ll have produced 180 zettabytes of yearly data by 2025, all of which are prone to duplications and redundancy. As such, while CRM is undoubtedly among the most valuable tools to help your customers stay satisfied, AI can enhance it further. AI can ensure better data integrity, predictive lead scoring, and, frankly, better data analysis capabilities on the whole.

Chatbots and customer support

On the subject of customer retention, customer support is a vital aspect of fostering brand loyalty. Digital marketing can never hinge on customer acquisition alone; acquiring new customers costs considerably more than retaining existing ones, and recurring buyers tend to be more profitable. On this front, refined customer support is an invaluable asset, and AI helps push this boundary beyond human limits.

Chatbots already see widespread use, and it’s easy to see why. They offer multiple advantages over their human counterparts, from cost to efficiency. Chatbots provide a “one-to-many” support model, bridging time zone differences and reducing labor costs. They don’t need downtime, which allows them to extend customer support beyond established office hours. Finally, they offer multiple language support for efficient localization, as well as easy integration into existing social media channels. This is why such renowned brands as Coca-Cola are already using chatbots more extensively, and in some cases, also combining them with such technologies as AR/VR.

Of course, chatbots do not fully replace human customer support. However, they offer tremendous new capabilities, streamlining customer support, and thus improving the overall customer experience. With the assistance of AI learning, chatbots can be another invaluable tool for customer retention.

Email marketing automation

Finally, email marketing has long been a pivotal aspect of digital marketing. While many marketing strategies have emerged in recent years, and all find some notable use, email marketing remains massively popular – and effective. Regardless, marketers continue to refine their email marketing strategies to improve conversion rates and reduce bounce rates. On this front, it is evident that AI is transforming the future of digital marketing since email marketing automation is already prevalent. Look no further than how Airbnb already uses AI in this regard, with promising results.

Effective email marketing automation sees marketers automate outgoing emails, either timed or based on custom triggers. However, the effectiveness of such practices depends on quality mailing lists and optimal email personalization for each contact. This is why popular CRM solutions today focus on functions that assist in this front, be they focused on crafting optimal lead generation strategies or providing lead analysis for deeper personalization. This has already led to AI-powered CRM solutions since AI offers an invaluable new frontier towards email marketing automation.

In this regard, AI does not merely enhance data analysis capabilities. It remains of paramount importance in this regard, of course, as it allows for more efficient predictive modeling. But additionally, through such technologies as natural language generation (NLG), AI seeks to craft effective marketing content. Through learning, it can craft continuously improving personal messages that appear humane and empathetic, thus resonating with audiences better.

Conclusion: AI is transforming the future of digital marketing, today

From powering such industries as big data to augmenting such technologies as CRM, AI is transforming the future of digital marketing in various ways. With a built-in affinity for self-improvement and massive untapped potential, it will undoubtedly continue to do so for years to come.